USSR in crisis Leonid Brezhnev came to power in 1964 after the fall of Nikita Khruschchev

Nikita Khurschchev Premier of the USSR Born in 1894, the son of a miner Condemns Stalin in 1956 and oversees 'de-Stalinising' of USSR

1953 March - Stalin dies and is succeeded by Georgi Malenkov as prime minister and by Nikita Khrushchev as first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Soviet Union explodes its first hydrogen bomb Nikolay Bulganin replaces Malenkov as prime minister Warsaw Treaty Organisation, or Warsaw Pact, set up Soviet troops help crush uprising in Hungary. Post-Stalin thaw 1956 February - Khrushchev makes a secret speech to the 20th Communist Party congress denouncing Stalin's dictatorial rule and cult of personality.

First-ever artificial earth satellite, Sputnik, orbits the earth Khrushchev becomes prime minister - in addition to Communist Party chief - after dismissing Bulganin. Late 1950s - China falls out with the Soviet Union over Moscow's policy of peaceful coexistence with the West Soviet Union shoots down US spy plane U-2 over Soviet territory Yuri Gagarin makes the first manned orbital flight Cuban missile crisis erupts over presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba Soviet Union joins the US and Britain in signing a treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests; US-Soviet "hot line" set up.

The Brezhnev era Born to a Russian worker's family in 1906 Brezhnev built up a group of followers whom he gradually moved into powerful positions By introducing the slogan "Trust in Cadres" in 1965, Brezhnev won the support of many bureaucrats suspicious of the constant reorganizations of the Khrushchev era and eager for security in established hierarchies Khrushchev is replaced as first secretary of the Communist Party by Leonid Brezhnev; Aleksey Kosygin becomes prime minister

The Soviet constitution of 1977, although differing in certain respects from the 1936 Stalin document. In contrast to the relative cultural freedom permitted during the early Khrushchev years, Brezhnev and his colleagues continued the more restrictive line of the later Khrushchev era. The leadership was unable to employ Stalinist means to control Soviet society; instead, it opted to use repressive tactics against political dissidents even after the Soviet Union signed the Helsinki Accords of 1975, which bound signatory nations to higher standards of human rights observance. Dissidents persecuted during this time included writers and activists in outlawed religious, nationalist, and human rights movements.

Domestic Policies Brezhnev wanted to increase consumer goods and agriculture by putting in place reforms that would use the market force to increase these however he was prevented from doing so as some feared that these would lead to a tendency towards capitalism However he allowed farmers to work on state owned plots Previously Collectivization had been the policy Collectivization was an agricultural policy in which individual landholders had to give up their land ownership and combine this land with those of other landholders to create large farms

By allowing farmers to work on state owned plots this gave them the motivation to produce more as they could keep or sell the excesses Brezhnev tried to increase production in the ninth and tenth five year plans but this was not with much success Consumer goods were only available on the black market In 1975 the USSR suffered from another poor harvest and so Brezhnev had to increase agricultural imports to keep the citizens fed In the 1970s the rest of the world was suffering from a petroleum shortage but due to the focus on consumer goods and agriculture the USSR did not manage to increase its production of petroleum and so failed to benefit from the high demand

Politics Brezhnev did not have much interest in reforming the government or the Party structure It became more and more apparent that there was a need for a reform as the leaders where ageing and starting to die In 1974 Brezhnev spoke about "stability of cadres" and assured the older stationary party members that they would not lose their positions Workers also realized that they would not lose their jobs due to poor productivity Even though this bought about a sense of security it had devastating effects on the economy

The Brezhnev Doctrine The Soviet Union wanted to come to an agreement on arms limitation with the USA as it wanted to limit the possibility of war However Brezhnev's main interest was to maintain a communist regime When the Czechoslovak government introduced reforms that went against the communist regime Soviet troops invaded the country and reversed the reforms In November 1968 the Brezhnev Doctrine In his speech Brezhnev made clear that all communist regimes were to remain communist and he would not let them be overthrown internally nor externally The Western powers criticized this however they did not offer any support for these states.